Aussies' oddest habits and quirks revealed

From new socks to old rags, there's a reason they say cricket's a funny game...

cricket.com.au
02 April 2017

Australia captain Steve Smith used to avoid eating duck before a Test, while former skipper Steve Waugh was never without his "security blanket” red rag.

Almost all cricketers have their own quirks or superstitions and while the jury remains out on how much of an influence these habits actually have on performances, cricket.com.au has canvassed the Australian players to reveal their game-day quirks and rituals.

From the slightly unusual to the downright strange, here are the Aussie players' superstitions:

Steve Smith

Smith never used to eat duck the evening before a match, but that habit changed when he accidentally tucked into some before the Lord's Ashes Test in 2015 and went on to score a double ton.

And now the Australia skipper has introduced a new superstition – taping his shoelaces to his socks.

It's a habit Smith started during the Indian Premier League last year and after a successful debut – in the form of a century against the Gujarat Lions – the batsman is sticking with it.

2016 IPL: Smith blasts maiden T20 hundred

"The pants we got given to play in were quite tight and you couldn’t do the sort of traditional sort of fold that I do on my normal pants," he said.

"I've always had an issue with looking at my shoelaces when I'm batting, and it wasn’t working, my pants weren’t hiding them.

"So my shoelaces would pop out and it would sort of do my head in a bit, so I ended up getting a physio to tape my shoelaces to my socks.

"I wear footy socks when I bat, and then I got a 100 I think in the first game that I did it, in that IPL game and then I've sort of done it since."

"I just like just seeing my shoes and everything to look sort of clean and my pad just sits over the top of my shoes, just no shoelaces."

Epic Smith notches third century of India series

It's a habit Bupa Support Team Head Coach Darren Lehmann concedes is "comfortably" the strangest he's seen in his time in cricket.

"I've never seen a man tie his shoe laces through his shin, so that he can’t see his shoe laces," Lehmann said.

"That’s the new thing he’s doing."

Former Test teammate Adam Voges revealed Smith is even working with New Balance to find a permanent solution to the laces problem.

"I know he's working with his shoe sponsor in order to try and get laceless shoes, so that he doesn’t have to look at it, which is just incredible," Voges said.

Smith is the world's No.1 ranked Test batsman, something paceman Josh Hazlewood believes could be in part due to his intense concentration at the crease.

"He just gets in his own world once he's about to bat and just goes to a new level," Hazlewood said.

"You can't really talk to him, he's so focused and even when you get out there if you're the 12th man and running the drinks out to him, he's on a different planet when he's batting and it obviously works."

Nathan Lyon

Lyon tears India apart with eight-wicket haul

Smith was happy to divulge a peculiar ritual off-spinner Nathan Lyon performs each time he is called on to bowl.

"He rolls the bails every time I think he comes on to bowl or it might even be every over," Smith said.

"I haven’t looked at it that closely, but I've seen it a couple of times, he walks up to the stumps and just rolls the bail and I think, what are you doing mate?"

Adam Zampa

Adam Zampa's hilarious selection ploy

Adam Zampa was miffed earlier this summer when Smith pinched his trademark headband and revealed it after tonning up in an ODI.

But Zampa's teammates have lifted the lid of the leg-spinner's affinity for another much-loved piece of cloth.

"I'm not really good at remembering this stuff, but Adam Zampa has a towel, I think it’s probably like a mini towel that he has on the front of his trousers, I think he’s had it from memory for about 10 years," Australia limited-overs batsman Aaron Finch said.

"It’s disgusting.

"I don’t know if he washes it, if he airs it out or what he does, but it’s pretty grotty, but that’s a superstition that I find quite weird.

"I know guys that put their pads on in a different order and you see Smithy taping his shoe laces inside his…I don't know what he does with them but I see his taping them up, touching everything but Zampa’s towel is pretty rank."

Zampa's South Australia captain Travis Head shares Finch's sentiments, but believes relief could be on the way.

"Zampa's got a shocking one with his towel that he hasn’t changed for three or four seasons and it’s not white anymore.

"I don't really want to go near it anymore, but I think he's thinking about swapping it over, I think it’s almost become time."

Matthew Wade

Wade stumping ends session on a high

When Australia's Test gloveman struggles for form with the bat, he turns to former Victoria teammate David Hussey.

"I had a weird one, like if I was struggling I’d have to get a fresh pair of socks of David Hussey," Wade revealed.

"As soon as I got a fresh pair of socks, brand new, out of the packet seemed to turn my form around, weird stuff like that.

"Dave just had heaps of socks and he knew when I needed them, he would only give them to me when I was desperate.

"But everyone’s got something strange."

Joe Burns

2015: Burns reveals origins of carrot obsession

Habits don't get any stranger than one displayed by Joe Burns, according to his Queensland teammate Usman Khawaja.

Burns famously has a fondness for carrots, which he ate by the dozen as a means of improving his eyesight.

"I don't think he does it anymore but there was one stage when he did do it and that was as weird as it got for me," Khawaja said.

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Cricket Australia.